Food Bank looks to create community hunger center, seeks support from school district

FLINT, Michigan — Representatives of the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan requested support from the Flint school board Tuesday for creating a community center focused on fighting hunger.

The 82,000-square-foot hunger center would be adjacent to Food Bank on Lapeer Road near the old Stewart Elementary School building on Burr Boulevard.

The plan is still in its early stages, said Food Bank of Eastern Michigan President William Kerr. But in order for it to work, he said, a strip of land on school district property would have to be paved to improve access to the building.

View full size(Food Bank of Eastern Michigan)A concept layout for a proposed Food Bank of Eastern Michigan community hunger center.

He asked school board members during a finance subcommittee meeting to consider donating or providing long-term access to the strip of land that would link Kent Street to a new parking lot.

The proposed hunger center would allow the Food Bank to package locally produced food and re-package bulk goods while creating new community educational, service and storage facilities.

The center would include coolers and freezers, volunteer work space, a commercial kitchen for nutrition and culinary training, a "teacher store" for educators to collect snacks for their students, a food stamp outreach office, storage and other facilities.

A community garden would also be created next to the building.

"We want to teach people about nutrition," said Kerr. "We want to repack vegetables."

Flint Community Schools Superintendent Linda Thompson requested a land survey be conducted to determine exactly how much land would be needed and how close the driveway would be to the school building.

"My biggest concern is how close it is to the building," said Thompson. "Should at some point we go back into this building, we need to know how close the school is to the driveway."

The school was closed last year. Part of it is leased by a church.

Kerr said a survey is in the works.

Board of Education members expressed support for the plan pending the outcome of the survey. They voted to move the issue to a committee of the whole meeting once details of the request become clear.

"It's going to help out the community so I think it's a great idea," said board Treasurer Jennifer Dillard.

Kerr said the show of support will make it easier to push plans forward as the Food Bank seeks funding from the C.S. Mott and Ruth Mott Foundations.

"We have to have all the players in position to move this forward," he said. "To make this work, we need to be able to get people in there... I just don't want somebody to give us $3 million to build this and not be able to get people to it."